U.S. Pat. No. 3,036,134 discloses the conversion of methanol to a reaction product containing water and dimethyl ether in the presence of a crystalline aluminosilicate. Copending application Ser. No. 387,223, filed Aug. 9, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,107, discloses the conversion of a reactant stream comprising alcohols and lower aliphatic organic compounds to a reaction product containing water and gasoline boiling range hydrocarbons containing aromatics by contacting the reactants with a special class of crystalline aluminosilicates. Some recently issued patents of interest are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,702,886 issued Nov. 14, 1972 and 3,709,979 issued Jan. 9, 1973.
The conversion operations above identified perform exceptionally well at converting various oxygenated organic chemicals to gasoline boiling hydrocarbons. These conversions are exothermic to varying degrees depending on the particular reactant composition. While it is desirable under some circumstances to process exothermic reactions, large exothermic heat loads can require substantial investment in complex reactors with extensive cooling means thereby considerably detracting from the overall economic efficiency of the operation. Thus, the simple expedient of conducting the exothermic reactions in stages, spreads the self accelerating reactions into more easily controlled operations whereby the generated exothermic heat may be more efficiently utilized and dissipated.